Friday, August 23, 2013

Propaganda Overdrive Suggests Syria War Coming Soon

With recent reports of a chemical weapons attack having taken place
inside Syria, and with Western governments such as the United States,
Britain, and France foaming at the mouth to take some type of decisive
action against the embattled nation, it is important to investigate the
claims being made, the individuals and organizations making such claims,
and the relevant information surrounding the attacks which might
contradict the narrative being force-fed to the Western public by
mainstream corporate media outlets.

For instance, while the typical narrative coming from the majority of mainstream media outlets such as NPR,[1] the Wall Street Journal,[2] CNN,[3]and
the New York Daily News clearly implies that Bashar al-Assad was most
likely the guilty party behind the attacks, the reasons to not only
question the claims in this regard but to actually believe the opposite
are legion.

Indeed, in predictable fashion, the United States government is now claiming[4]
that is has “strong indications” that chemical weapons have been used
and that the culprit was “clearly [by] the government.” Such propaganda,
of course, hearkens back to the days of “Incubator Babies” and “Weapons
of Mass Destruction” in Iraq.

France, however, is doing whatever it can to take the lead in imperialism and warmongering with Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius stating[5]
that “a reaction with force” might be needed if it is determined that
it was the Syrian government who used the chemical weapons.

As I wrote in my article, “New Chemical Weapons Attack In Syria Another False Flag?”[6]
it has been the case with every other propaganda push against Assad
regarding chemical weapons, that there is absolutely no evidence to
implicate the Syrian government in the launching and use of chemical
agents against the Syrian people or even the death squads themselves. In
fact, the accounts being published throughout the mainstream media are
very suspect in their own right.

First, although there is some video evidence of chemical weapons usage,
the estimates of the extent of the atrocity, as well as the blame for
the attacks, are coming entirely from the death squads themselves. Both
in the title to the Reuters article mentioned above and in nearly all of
the mainstream media reports, statistics and information is prefaced by
the phrase “activists say.”

“Activists say,” of course, can be translated merely to mean “death
squads” say, as the activists being referred to are indeed nothing more
than terrorist killers - politically, ideologically, and physically -
invested in the outcome and presentation of the Syrian crisis. In short,
these individuals have a vested interest in the blame for these attacks
being placed on Assad, popular opinion being turned against the Syrian
government, and some type of condemnation or military action being taken
against the Syrian army.

Second, the location of the attack is heavily suspect. The Ghouta
region, where the attacks allegedly took place, is an area that had been
overrun with death squad organizations such as Jabhat al-Nusra and at
one point. However, it is also interesting to note that the attacks come
at a time after the area had been liberated by Syrian government forces
as far back as May, 2013[7]
and is now largely free of death squad activity. This suggests that the
death squads themselves may have detonated chemical weapons as a move
of desperation and coordination with NATO/Anglo-American interests
seeking to justify military action against Syria.

Third, and even more interesting, is the fact that the chemical weapons
attacks come just days after a team of U.N. chemical experts entered
Damascus and checked into a hotel a few miles from the targeted area.
With this in mind, one must ask “why would Assad order the use of
chemical weapons in this area at such an inopportune time?” Given the
track record of Assad’s cleverness, this seems to be an incredibly
foolish move, even as the Syrian army has gained the clear upper hand
against the death squads. Why detonate chemical weapons in front of UN
chemical experts? Why wait until after they arrive to do so? Why
detonate chemical weapons so close to them?

These questionable details have caused even mainstream “experts” to hesitate[8]
when commenting on the nature of the alleged chemical attacks. For
instance, Charles Lister, an analyst at IHS Jane’s Terrorism and
Insurgency Center, stated,

Logically, it would make little sense for the Syrian government to
employ chemical agents at such a time, particularly given the relatively
close proximity of the targeted towns (to the U.N. team).

Nonetheless, the Ghouta region (where the attacks were reported) is well
known for its opposition leanings. Jabhat al-Nusra has had a long-time
presence there and the region has borne the brunt of sustained military
pressure for months now.

BBC security correspondent Frank Garnder also stated something similar,
when he said, “Firstly, the timing is odd, bordering on suspicious. Why
would the Assad government, which has recently been retaking ground
from the rebels, carry out a chemical attack while UN weapons inspectors
are in the country?”

Likewise,
Swedish diplomat and former UN weapons inspector Rolf Ekeus stated to
Reuters that, “It would be very peculiar if it was the government to do
this at the exact moment the international inspectors come into the
country….at the least, it wouldn’t be very clever.”

Another Swede, chemical weapons expert Ake Sellstrom, who is currently leading the UN inspection team in Syria told SVT[9] that the large number of victims being reported sounded “suspicious.”[4]
In addition, soon after the attacks, Russian Foreign Ministry Spokesman
Alexansdr Lukashevich stated that the attacks may have been a
“provocation planned in advance” promoted for political purposes by
“biased regional media.”

Lukashevich also said, “It draws attention to the fact that biased
regional media have immediately, as if on command, begun an aggressive
information attack, laying all the responsibility on the government.”

When Lukashevich refers to “biased regional media” he most likely means news agencies such as Al-Arabiya who, according to William Engdahl,[10]
was the agency who broke the initial story regarding claims of 500
deaths from chemical attacks, reports which were taken almost entirely
from “activists” aka death squads. After the initial reports were made
by Al-Arabiya the massive wave of Western media picked up the story and
ran with it, inflating the numbers of victims almost every hour, finally
reaching claims of 1,300 deaths.

As Engdahl writes,

Al Arabiya,[11]
the origin of the story, is not a neutral in the Syrian conflict. It
was set up in 2002 by the Saudi Royal Family in Dubai. It is
majority-owned by the Saudi broadcaster, Middle East Broadcasting Center
(MBC). Saudi Arabia is a major financial backer of the attempt to
topple Syria’s government. That is a matter of record. So on first
glance Saudi-owned media reporting such an inflammatory anti-Assad
allegation might be taken with a dose of salt.

In addition, the Russian spokesman also added that “A homemade rocket
with a poisonous substance that has not been identified yet – one
similar to the rocket used by terrorists on March 19 in Khan al-Assal -
was fired early on August 21 [at Damascus suburbs] from a position
occupied by the insurgents.”

Lukashevich pointed out that similar reports about Syrian authorities
allegedly using chemical weapons have popped up before. However, the
information has never been confirmed.

In Moscow’s view, the latest possible “provocation” might be the
opposition’s attempt to get support from the UN Security Council and
undermine the Geneva peace talks on Syria.

Russia believes the incident should be thoroughly investigated by
professionals. It urged everyone who has influence on armed extremists
to do everything possible to finally put an end to such provocations
involving chemical poisonous substances.[12]

Lukashevich and the Russian government have ample reason[13]
to suspect that the recent chemical weapons attack in Syria was the
handiwork of the death squads instead of the Syrian government.
Since the ridiculous “red line” talk has been repeated in government
halls and press conferences since late 2012 by both President Barack
Obama and then-Secretary of State Hillary Clinton as well as French
President Francois Hollande, the idea that the Syrian government would
be the party to actually use chemical weapons was patently absurd from
the beginning.

As far back as June 2012, the pieces were clearly seen being moved into
place in order to create the environment and subsequent chain of events
for a successful false flag attack used to justify an invasion of or, at
the very least, some limited military action against Syria. However,
the more hidden aspects being used to create infrastructure for such an
event could be seen going back even further.

For instance, in November, 2011, it was reported in The Telegraph[14] that the “transitional” government of terrorists, Muslim Brotherhood, and NATO puppets in Libya[15] were offering to send money, personnel[16] (aka terrorists[17]
and mercenaries), and weapons to the death squads operating in Syria.
It was largely understood, at least after the initial announcement of
the weapons deal, that the weapons in question included chemical
weapons.

Later, in June of 2012, it was reported by Russia Today[18]
that these weapons had indeed found themselves into the hands of the
death squads by virtue of their Libyan counterparts now acting as head
of the failed Libyan State. RT stated that, “They allegedly plan to use
it against civilians and pin the atrocity on the Bashar al-Assad
regime.”

Thus, it should be noted that the London Guardian[19]
reported that the Libya possessed “25 metric tonnes of bulk mustard
agent and 1,400 metric tonnes of precursor chemical used to make
chemical weapons."

It was also reported in August of 2012[20]
that the death squads had managed to capture a missile site belonging
to the Syrian army which contained chemical weapons. The death squads
erroneously claimed that the reason for attacking the site was to
prevent the Assad government from using the weapons against members of
the “opposition.” Regardless, one does not have to speculate very much
as to the possibilities available here - in June, the death squads gain
access to chemical weapons. In August, they gain access to a delivery
mechanism in the form of missiles.

It is just such a coincidence that should cause one to examine another
event which occurred shortly before the assault on the missile site. In
July 2012, Tony Cartalucci of LandDestroyerReport,[21]
described “reports of so-called 'Free Syrian Army' militants seen
trying on gas masks, along with reports of Libyan chemical weapon caches
& equipment being discovered in Damascus.”

Together with the acquisition of the missile delivery capability by
virtue of the conquering of the Syrian missile site and the possession
of the chemical weapons themselves via Libya, the acquisition of gas
masks points to the preparation for the launch of an actual chemical
attack, or at least the possibility of it, on the part of the death
squads.

As one of the death squad members stated to Reuters in April,
2012,[22] “The rebels are getting better at bomb-making; as you know,
desperation is the mother of invention." Reuters also commented that the
death squads were now able to develop “more sophisticated bombs” due to
“rare outside donations” although Reuters did not attempt to name those
mysterious sources.

Moving forward to August 2012, a false flag plot was discovered which
had been hatched between NATO and Saudi Arabia that would have staged a
chemical weapons deployment in Syria either by mercenary firms or by the
NATO-backed death squads, an attack that would subsequently have been
blamed on the Assad government, thus serving as a pretext for NATO
intervention and the creation of a “buffer zone” in the country.

According to Paul Joseph Watson,[23]
the source reporting the impending attack stated to Syrian news channel
Addounia that a Saudi Arabian firm “had fitted 1400 ambulance vehicles
with anti-gas & anti-chemical filtering systems at a cost of $97,000
dollars each, in preparation for a chemical weapons attack carried out
by FSA rebels using mortar rounds. A further 400 vehicles have been
prepared as troop carriers.”

Interestingly
enough, the attack was set to make use of white phosphorous, sarin and
mustard gas. It then stands as yet another questionable “coincidence”
that, among the weapons possessed by the Libyan regime and now in the
hands of the death squads, was large quantities of bulk mustard agent.
Indeed, recent claims regarding the August 21, 2013 chemical weapons
attack have made use of sarin gas would do nothing but add credence to
the suspicion that it was the death squads themselves who committed the
chemical weapons attack, not the Assad government.

Nevertheless, the potential false flag attack reported by Addounia[24]
was set to be launched on densely populated areas, most likely Daraa, a
city on the Syria/Jordan border, after which the newly fitted
ambulances would pour into Syria under the guise of humanitarian aid.
Although painted with the labels, “Syrian People’s Relief,” the
ambulances would actually be nothing more than armored personnel
carriers designed to capitalize on a manufactured disaster for the
purpose of deploying such personnel in order to create the desired
buffer zone.

Furthermore, the same company that manufactured and fitted the
ambulances to be used in the attack is one that is based in Riyadh and
was negotiating a contract with the Yemeni government for the
manufacture of military vehicles for the Yemeni army.

A source also reported that a meeting had taken place between the head
of Al Arabiya, the Saudi news channel, and a U.S. diplomat at the U.S.
Embassy in the United Arab Emirates. As Paul Joseph Watson writes, “The
purpose of the meeting was to agree[25]
upon a conditioning program to prepare the public for the likelihood
that Bashar Al-Assad’s forces would use chemical weapons. Shortly after
the meeting, Al Arabiya began running news segments depicting the
inevitability of a chemical weapons attack carried out by Assad’s
forces.”

Of course, it was around this same time period that discussions of a
“red line” by the French and American Presidents as well as the U.S.
State Department and Israeli representatives began their repetition in
the mainstream media circles and hence the American public at large.

For instance, in August 2012, President Barack Obama[26]
warned that not only the use but merely the transportation of chemical
weapons would constitute a “red line” that would result in military
intervention. French President Hollande[27] also stated at the time that the use of chemical weapons “Would be a legitimate reason for direct intervention.”

Likewise, Watson writes, Israel’s Vice Premier Silvan Shalom told media
outlets “that if Syrian rebels obtained chemical weapons from stockpiles
belonging to the Assad regime, such a development would force Israel to
resort to 'preventive operations,' in other words – a military strike
on Syria.”

The creation of a “buffer zone” inside Syria is also interesting in its
own right, not just because of the necessary loss of legitimate
territory close to Syria’s borders but also because of its inherent
nature of destabilization and weakening of the ruling regime in
Damascus. Thus, it is interesting to note that, while the false flag
chemical attack and the subsequent creation of a buffer zone was
designed to use the pretext of humanitarian aid as mentioned above, such
a plan follows the roadmap provided by the Brookings Institution in a
paper entitled “Saving Syria: Assessing Options for Regime Change,”[28]
published in March 2012. The paper essentially argued for the use of a
humanitarian issue in order to engage in military intervention on the
part of NATO in Syria.

Indeed, the paper states, “An alternative is for diplomatic efforts to
focus first on how to end the violence and how to gain humanitarian
access, as is being done under Annan’s leadership. This may lead to the
creation of safe-havens and humanitarian-corridors, which would have to
be backed by limited military power.”

Yet one does not have to go any further afield in order to understand
that the plan to stage false flag chemical weapons attack inside Syria
in order to see the mass of evidence supporting such a claim.

For instance, in December 2012, a video was obtained[32] by the Syria Tribune[33] and subsequently released in their report and posted on YouTube[34] which allegedly shows the NATO-backed death squads testing chemical weapons on “lab” rabbits.

As the Syria Tribune describes the video,

The video (see here[35]) starts with several scenes showing chemical containers with Tekkim labels (Tekkim is a Turkish chemicals company[36]) and some lab equipment,[37]
while playing Jihadists chants in the background. A glass box then
appears with two rabbits inside, with a poster on the wall behind it
reading The Almighty Wind Brigade(Kateebat A Reeh Al Sarsar).
A person wearing a lab mask then mixes chemicals in a beaker in the
glass box, and we see some gas emitting from the beaker. About a minute
later, the rabbits start to have random convulsions and then die. The person says: You
saw what happened? This will be your fate, you infidel Alawites, I
swear by ALLAH to make you die like these rabbits, one minute only after
you inhale the gas.

The Syria Tribune also comments that “Judging from the rabbits’
reaction, the gas must be a nerve agent. The number of containers, if
not a bluff, indicates ability to produce a considerable amount of this
gas. Deployment could be by means of a smoke generator placed in the
target area, an explosion, possibly a suicide one, of a "chemmed" car, or simply by using a humidifier."

In
March, 2013, yet another YouTube[38] video was released which contained
a clip of a second “test” of chemical weapons on captive rabbits by the
death squads.

This is quite an ironic presentation, since the Assad government has
repeatedly vowed never to use chemical weapons inside Syria, while the
death squads have repeatedly threatened to do just that. Indeed, in
direct contrast to the tone and statements of the death squads, the
Syrian Foreign Ministry spokesman Jihad Makdissi issued a statement[39]
several months ago saying, “No chemical or biological weapons will ever
be used, and I repeat, will never be used, during the crisis in Syria
no matter what the developments inside Syria.” Yet the drums of war and
military intervention from the United States, NATO, and Israel continue
to relentlessly beat.

Regardless, the video mentioned above also contains an alleged audio recording of a phone conversation[40]
between two Free Syrian Army fighters discussing the “details of a plan
to carry out a chemical weapons attack capable of impacting an area the
size of one kilometer.”

As Paul Joseph Watson writes,

The recording of the phone
conversation purports to be between two FSA militants, one inside Syria
and one outside of the country. Abu Hassan, the militant inside Syria,
asks the person on the other end of the line to transmit a message to
Sheikh Suleiman, a rebel-seized army base in Aleppo, asking for “two
chemical bombs ….phosphoric” in order to “finish this whole thing.”

“I want them to be effective,” states Hassan, adding, “The radius of the strike, or reach of the gases, has to be 1km.”

The video also contains a clip of the death squads openly announcing
their plans to engage in chemical weapons attacks, all the while
surrounded by bottles of nitric acid and other substances.

Again, back in December of 2012, after the death squads managed to
capture a chlorine factory inside Syria, the Syrian government actually
issued a warning that the death squads might attempt to use chemical
weapons of this nature in their battle to overthrow and oppress the
government and people of Syria respectively. The Syrian Foreign Ministry
stated, “Terrorist groups may resort to using chemical weapons against
the Syrian people ... after having gained control of a toxic chlorine
factory.”

Thus, with the most recent chemical weapon attack which has caused both a
frothing and bumbling public relations response from the
Anglo-Americans, it is interesting to note that chlorine has been
fingered as being one of the major ingredients.

The Syrian military is said to believe that a home-made locally-manufactured rocket was fired, containing a form of chlorine known as CL17, easily available as a swimming pool cleaner. They claim that the warhead contained a quantity of the gas, dissolved in saline solution.

[...]

CL17 is normal chlorine for swimming pools or industrial purposes. It is
rated as Level 2 under the chemical weapons convention, which means it
is dual purpose - it can be used as a weapon as well as for industrial
or domestic purposes. Level 1 agents are chemicals whose sole use is as
weapons, such as the nerve agents sarin or tabun.

There has been extensive experimentation by insurgents in Iraq in the use of chlorine, which is harmful when mixed with water to form hydrochloric acid. It vapourises quickly,
meaning that in a big explosion it will evaporate; in a small blast -
for instance, one delivered by a home-made rocket - it will turn into
airborne droplets before dispersing quickly.

So it is likely only to produce limited casualties. In this case there were only 26 fatalities, far fewer than would be expected from a full chemical weapon attack. In short, it is easily improvised into a chemical device but not one that would be used by an army seeking mass-casualty effects. [emphasis added]

Reports by the Syrian government coincide with the accounts given by the
victims of the chemical weapons attack which one can view in the video
clip contained in the YouTube video mentioned above. (See here)
It is also important to note that many of the victims allegedly name
the Free Syrian Army and the “rebels” as the perpetrators as they are
being interviewed while waiting for medical treatment.

“The Free Syrian Army hit us with a rocket,” one woman said. "We smelled
an odor and everyone fell to the ground. People died where they fell . .
. the kids . . . "

A young girl was also interviewed, who said, “My lungs closed and I
couldn’t breathe or speak. God curse them. Everyone died on the ground.
My mom and dad died. I don’t know where is my brother. God curse them.
May they [FSA] all die. This is the freedom they bring us. They [FSA]
want to kill everyone. I hope there remains not a single one of them
[FSA] alive.”

Let us not forget that the death squads have been responsible for unspeakable atrocities[42]
against innocent people ever since the destabilization effort began.
Last October, the death squads, in typical terrorist fashion, conducted
at least four suicide bombings in Aleppo that killed around 40 innocent
civilians.

Receiving more attention in the media, however, at least until the death
squads were found to be responsible, was the infamous Houla Massacre of
2011 where approximately 90 people were killed.

Indeed, the videos of the torture of prisoners in the hands of the death
squads are legion. One need only type the relevant keywords into a
YouTube search engine to be greeted with generous results.

Such open acts of terrorism, lack of regard for human life, and outright
savagery on the part of the death squads have thus made even
coordinated Western media propaganda campaigns rest on shakier ground.
Unfortunately, we must never overestimate the intellectual prowess of
the population of the television and entertainment-saturated Western
populations. After all, it has failed on countless occasions in the
past.

We cannot allow false claims of atrocities or phantom threats of
frightening weapons to be used to justify American military intervention
in yet another Middle Eastern country. Indeed, our experiences with
“incubator babies” and weapons of mass destruction should serve as a
reminder when faced with nerve gas victims and chemical weapons.

Brandon Turbeville is an author out of Florence, South Carolina. He
has a Bachelor's Degree from Francis Marion University and is the author
of three books, Codex Alimentarius -- The End of Health Freedom, 7 Real Conspiracies, and Five Sense Solutions and Dispatches From a Dissident. Turbeville
has published over 200 articles dealing on a wide variety of subjects
including health, economics, government corruption, and civil liberties.
Brandon Turbeville's podcast Truth on The Tracks can be found every
Monday night 9 pm EST at UCYTV. He is available for radio and TV interviews. Please contact activistpost (at) gmail.com.

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